Autos

Visit to the local brewery Strange Brewing Company at 1330 Zuni in west Denver on Wednesday, October 10, 2012. Head brewer Tim Myers, right, behind the bar talks with the beer drinkers. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

Members of Colorado's flourishing craft-beer industry are approaching the prospect of lower drunken-driving thresholds with a combination of caution and confidence that their businesses are well-positioned to weather any change.

"I would be concerned if people didn't feel like they could even have a single beer with lunch or dinner," said Paul Gatza, director of the Boulder-based Brewers Association, a trade association for small and independent brewers. "That would hurt sales, theoretically."

On the other hand, Gatza said lowering the blood-alcohol content limit could encourage consumers to buy more beer to enjoy at home.

The impact would not be as dramatic in Colorado, which penalizes those who drive at .05 or more with a "driving while ability impaired" offense, or DWAI, that can lead to a loss of driving privileges. Most DUI cases involving BAC of .08 or more are pleaded down to the lesser offense. Under the NTSB proposal, that would no longer be an option.

One brewery model flourishing in Colorado could take a hit — small startups with tanks in the back and bar-like tap rooms in the front.

These breweries don't serve their own food — although food trucks are frequent visitors — and some are in cheaper-to-lease industrial areas inconvenient to public transportation.

Brewers interviewed Wednesday highlighted their relatively early closing hours, efforts to encourage responsible behavior and their clientele's aversion to drinking to excess.

"It's going to be even more difficult to tell if someone has had too many if the threshold is that much lower," said Tim Myers of Strange Brewing in Denver, which is near light rail. "We are always trying to be careful and responsible. But that is a very big concern for us, that people might just say, 'Forget it.' "

"It's not going to change what people do," said Yakobson, who creates wild and sour beers and runs a tap room in north Denver. "Education is a better way. This just sounds like something that will waste taxpayers' money and time."

TRVE Brewing on Broadway in Denver benefits from drawing patrons from the neighborhood, said owner Nick Nunns. Nunns, who said he sat terrified in the car as a child as his alcoholic father drove drunk, sympathizes with the proposal but questions whether it will work.

"I don't think penalties have dissuaded certain people from making that decision," Nunns said. "That is going to happen one way or another."